I carry your Heart
by Amethyst Solaria
Summary: After Rumpelstiltskin took Hook's heart, Emma takes it upon herself to make sure it never happens again. S4E12. Captain Swan


Hook/Emma

I do not own OUAT or the poem by e.e. cummings.

 **Summary: After Rumpelstiltskin took Hook's heart, Emma takes it upon herself to make sure it never happens again. S4E12. Captain Swan**

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As Emma stood there, she pondered her next actions as she gazed down at the heart in her hands. There was no turning back from this once it was done, but it was the only way to keep her from harm, as well as him. She needed him to be safe and whole and good.

Hook came around the corner of the diner looking for Emma and smiled as he spotted her. All was okay with his world … or would be again soon. The crocodile didn't have his heart and he was banished from town. His heart would soon be back in his chest, but for now it was held by Emma and there was a slight warm feeling in his chest. He would ponder that later.

"So are you ready to do this?" He asked as she was intently staring at his slightly darkened heart. A little shame welled up inside Killian as he gazed at his darkened heart. How he wished he could be better for her, could lighten his blackened heart.

Emma took a deep breath and smiled up at him, "All set." Her smile was still a touch nervous. He guessed it wasn't every day you held someone's heart in your hands…unless you were Regina back in the day.

"I do have a question …or more a proposal." Emma stared at Killian with trepidation. "Do you trust me with your heart?"

The question hung on the air.

Killian was confused. "You are literally holding his heart in the palm of her hand right now, love." He nodded towards the glowing object. "That's not just figuratively, either darling. Where is this going?"

Emma smiled hesitantly. "Did you know that Cora tried to take my heart, around the time that we met? She couldn't because a force blocked her. At the time, Mary Margaret and I just thought it was my being the product of true love." She rolled her eyes, her opinion of the subject clear. "Regina tried, also, when she was training me. It was something about seeing your beating heart being motivation…or something." Emma shook her head. " That's beside the point. Only I can take my heart from my chest. We finally figured it was a combination of my magic…", she paused, " .. and my feelings. I am guarded. My feelings and my heart. Together, they combined and created a shield."

As she spoke, Emma reached into her own chest and pulled. With a snap, there is her palm was a gold glowing object came forth into her palm. The typical ruby red of most hearts could be seen under the gold almost like there was like a gilded cage wrapped around it, no black in sight. His heart paled in contrast next to it.

"You already have my heart, but will you carry it?" She asked, searchingly. He was confused and astounded.

"What do you mean, Swan?"

"I can't go through knowing that you are a puppet again, with no way to save you. What Gold did was unforgivable and unacceptable. I can't cast a spell like him or Regina can to protect hearts from being taken, that's not how my magic works. There is a way that I can protect yours, but you in return must protect mine." She nodded down at the hearts in her hand beating as they were, almost in unison. "No one can hold two, not indefinitely. The burden must be shared."

Hook looked at her pleadingly. "I'll just blacken yours, don't you see." He couldn't even believe she was considering this.

Emma smiled. "I trust you." So simple yet so much trust. She took a breath and asked again, "Will you carry my heart so that I may carry yours?" She gazed imploringly at him. "We don't have to, if you don't feel safe or comfortable. A year ago I would have said you were crazy to even think of this., but it's the only way to be sure."

Oh, how Killian had come to love this crazy woman. She was light to his darkness. Their lives so similar, abandonment and pain, but they had traveled different paths. With almost tears, he nodded, because how could he not when all she wanted to do was protect him.

Emma smiled and held her shining heart to his chest and his blacked one to hers. "Say it with me. I carry your heart with me, I carry it in my heart. It shares the protection between us. He nodded and they began.

As they spoke the words, hands to hearts and hearts to chest, they began to glow. He could see that his darkened heart started to get a cage of its own. They spoke over and over and everything seemed to glow brighter and brighter. With one last chant, Emma pressed and the hearts sank into their new homes.

Emma panted and smirked up at him. "Let Gold try to take it now."

Hook smiled his own mischievous smile and held a hand to where he could feel her heart beat in his chest. It was different from his, lighter but also a burden to carry, as all hearts are. He could feel as their beating hearts started to sync and feel warmer.

Killian smiled and pushed her back against the wall with a kiss. "Nobody will ever love you as much as I do at this moment, love. Forever and always."

"I know," she said with a sweet smile, "I can feel it," as she gave her own chest a pat over his now encased heart.

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Later, as Hook laid next to Emma abroad the Jolly Roger that night, he held his hand against their chests and smiled. They were still beating together in sync.

"Together, love, never apart. For I carry your heart with me now, I carry it in my heart."

Killian smiled content and drifted off to sleep.

 **FIN**

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 **i carry your heart with me**

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it (anywhere i go you go, my dear;

and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)  
i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)

i want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)  
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant  
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows  
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud  
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows  
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)  
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart  
i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Poem by e.e. Cummings


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